Test Driving Theology

Trinity’s Mission Jamaica team had a good day.

It was a ridiculously early day…and a long day…but a very good day.

We met around 4:15am at church to load up the bus for the journey to the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport.  Thanks be to God for Jeff Valen, who wasn’t even going to Jamaica today, but who still got up to drive the church bus for us!

We made good time to the airport.  (Saturday at 4:30am is relatively traffic-free!  Who knew!)  and did a quick unload in front of the Humphery Terminal.  We hopped into line for check in, just in front of the Mission Jamaica team from Lord of Life Lutheran in Maple Grove, the congregation with whom we’re sharing this adventure.  Trinity has 11 team members, and Lord of Life has 16.

Check in was smooth and easy, and we were soon killing time at the gate.  Both Starbuck’s and Caribou were open, which made the time tolerable.

Likewise, the flight was easy and we got through customs in Montego Bay quickly.  We got our luggage to the curb and loaded onto a truck.

We got checked in at the Holiday Inn Sunspree, our home for the week, found some food and hung out, enjoying some sunshine, and exploring the hotel.

At 6:00pm, we met for our welcome and orientation from Jeff Peterson, the project director, and our first session of devotions.  Because of the orientation, and our group’s exhaustion, our conversations were abbreviated.

This week we’ll be talking about “Where We See God.”  Our devotional booklets were written this year by Sydney Sampson, who is a freshman at Drake University and whose family went on Mission Jamaica three years ago.  She did a fantastic job, and we’re looking forward to the conversations.

After devotions we had dinner, then most folks made their way back to their rooms.  Everyone is pretty tired.  And tomorrow we’ll take our first trip up the mountain to Westhaven, and we’re all pretty excited about that.

Please pray for our group and for good rest and a good day tomorrow as we worship with our friends at Faith Chapel, in Copse, and we meet the children of Westhaven.

Click here to see all of the Mission Jamaica trip photos

God’s blessings!
Pastor Todd